archive on Lets Automate Ithttps://letsautomate.it/tags/archive/
Recent content in archive on Lets Automate ItHugo -- gohugo.ioen-usTue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:35 -0400Butcher Block Iron Pipe Deskhttps://letsautomate.it/article/butcher-block-iron-pipe-desk/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:35 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/butcher-block-iron-pipe-desk/Recently I built a butcher block and iron pipe desk for my home office. Within this post i&rsquo;ll try and list out how I approached it as best as possible:
I purchased 2 8ft butcher block countertops from Lumber Liquidators while they were on sale. I paid $150 for each. Next, I researched quite a bit about how to finish them. Here&rsquo;s what I did:
Sanded using 80 grit sandpaper Sanded using 120 grit sandpaper Sanded using 200 grit sandpaper Sanded using 320 grit sandpaper Sanded using 400 grit sandpaper Once that was done, I used cheese cloth to wipe away all the debris.Using Docker Compose on Windowshttps://letsautomate.it/article/using-docker-compose-on-windows/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:30 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/using-docker-compose-on-windows/Docker Compose &ldquo;is a tool for defining and running multi-container Docker applications. With Compose, you use a YAML file to configure your application&rsquo;s services.&rdquo; In this post, I will show how you can work with Docker Compose.
Docker on Windows is now commonplace, and it comes with additional features you may not be familiar with. In my previous posts Install Docker and run containers on Windowsand Create a Docker container on Windows with a Dockerfile, I showed you how to create a single container.Verifying a Datetime Format String Is Valid or Not With Confirm Datetimeformatpatternhttps://letsautomate.it/article/verifying-a-datetime-format-string-is-valid-or-not-with-confirm-datetimeformatpattern/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:28 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/verifying-a-datetime-format-string-is-valid-or-not-with-confirm-datetimeformatpattern/Early this evening I sent this tweet out regarding a #PowerShell Function I wrote called Confirm-DateTimeFormatPattern and Dan Franciscus (@dan_franciscus) recommend that I should blog about it, so here it goes!
To elaborate on that tweet, this Function spawned from a larger initiative that I am working on for a presentation I&rsquo;m giving at PowerShell Summit 2018 in April. That presentation will be about a PowerShell Module I have built called PSLogging, which is a logging framework built using PowerShell Classes.Create Group Policy Adm and Admx Templateshttps://letsautomate.it/article/create-group-policy-adm-and-admx-templates/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:26 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/create-group-policy-adm-and-admx-templates/The easiest way to create an ADMX template is to build an ADM template first and then convert the latter with the help of Microsoft&rsquo;s free ADMX Migrator tool.
Administrative templates let us create custom Group Policy settings. Administrative template files have two different versions. Windows Vista introduced templates with the .ADMX extension. These templates use an XML syntax and can be a lot more difficult to decipher and create by hand.Using Powershell to Manage Amazon Ec2 Instanceshttps://letsautomate.it/article/using-powershell-to-manage-amazon-ec2-instances/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:24 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/using-powershell-to-manage-amazon-ec2-instances/With the AWS Tools for PowerShell, you can manage Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), the service for virtual machines (EC2 instances) in Amazon&rsquo;s cloud. Using Amazon&rsquo;s PowerShell tools and the AWS API, we can create, manage, and deploy EC2 instances (VMs) from our console.
Please read my post about the AWS Tools for PowerShell where I talk about the minimum requirements to access AWS. To install the AWS Tools for PowerShell, open up a PowerShell console and run:Manage Amazon Aws S3 With Powershellhttps://letsautomate.it/article/manage-amazon-aws-s3-with-powershell/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:21 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/manage-amazon-aws-s3-with-powershell/You can manage Amazon&rsquo;s Simple Storage Service (S3) cloud storage solution with help of the Amazon Web Services AWS Tools for PowerShell. In this post, I will introduce you to the cmdlets that allow you access S3.
To follow this guide, you will need an AWS account and access keys. The AWS Tools for PowerShell run on Windows XP or later and PowerShell 2.0 or later. If you want to try the AWS Tools for PowerShell Core, you must have PowerShell 5.Create a Docker Container on Windows With a Dockerfilehttps://letsautomate.it/article/create-a-docker-container-on-windows-with-a-dockerfile/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:19 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/create-a-docker-container-on-windows-with-a-dockerfile/In my last post, I explained how to install docker and how to run containers. Today, we will walk through creating a Docker container using a Dockerfile.
A Dockerfile (no file extension) is a definition file that will build and run a container. That container can be a simple Microsoft IIS web application or Python/Flask application or a simple build/reporting service. A definition file helps us with our operational tasks, especially when we are building services or scripts for the repeatable tasks we face on a daily basis.Install Docker and Run Containers on Windowshttps://letsautomate.it/article/install-docker-and-run-containers-on-windows/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:16 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/install-docker-and-run-containers-on-windows/Docker is an operating-system level virtualization technology that allows you to isolate applications in so-called containers without the overhead of conventional virtual machines. In this post, you&rsquo;ll learn how to install Docker on Windows and run your first containers.
Docker allows developers building a specific functionality (and all of its dependencies) into a small reproducible environment. This has evolved over time by enabling the ability to create small microservices that do one thing and do it well.Powershell Ise Snippetshttps://letsautomate.it/article/powershell-ise-snippets/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:14 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/powershell-ise-snippets/Whether you are a pro with PowerShell or a beginner, PowerShell ISE snippets can speed up your scripting and assist when you are unsure of formatting.
Most IT professionals who work with PowerShell to build tools, scripts, or modules use the built-in PowerShell ISE (Integrated Scripting Environment) to build and debug their code.
Read MoreProcessing Csv Data in Powershellhttps://letsautomate.it/article/processing-csv-data-in-powershell/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:11 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/processing-csv-data-in-powershell/In this post, I explain how to create a PowerShell function to process CSV data. This allows you to reuse your code whenever you are working with CSV files in PowerShell.
CSV (Comma-Separated Values) is used by almost every technology platform that we encounter. Manipulating this data can be cumbersome if you&rsquo;re NOT an Excel wizard, but PowerShell can simplify this job. For example,
Read MoreManage User Rights With Group Policyhttps://letsautomate.it/article/manage-user-rights-with-group-policy/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:08 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/manage-user-rights-with-group-policy/Group Policy is nothing but flexible and extremely powerful when it comes to both configuration management and installation of software. In addition, Group Policy is one of your best tools for securing your endpoints. You can manage anything and everything from Firewall rules, account privileges, application white-listing, etc. You can also manage user rights as well.
Computers and Users in your environment have a lot of rights, by default, that they don’t need.Cattle vs Unicornshttps://letsautomate.it/article/cattle-vs-unicorns/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:03 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/cattle-vs-unicorns/When organizations begin to think of users as cattle instead of unicorns we begin to remove their pride for, and their responsibility to, an organization. When responsibility for their actions are only out of necessity or self-preservation then you have lost the battle, but not necessarily the war. You can change people’s mindset but it just may take a little more effort.
I believe that people are the answer to most security problems.Understanding Group Policy Orderhttps://letsautomate.it/article/understanding-group-policy-order/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:00 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/understanding-group-policy-order/Group Policy order can be confusing. To understand how exactly Windows applies one GPO (Group Policy Object) versus another, you can use the &ldquo;LSD OU&rdquo; rule.
You should always ask yourself two questions when dealing with Group Policy: Where are you (local, site, domain, or organizational unit)? What are you (computer or user)? Read MoreRun Powershell Scripts as Immediate Scheduled Tasks With Group Policyhttps://letsautomate.it/article/run-powershell-scripts-as-immediate-scheduled-tasks-with-group-policy/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:57 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/run-powershell-scripts-as-immediate-scheduled-tasks-with-group-policy/To run a PowerShell script on multiple computers via Group Policy, you can work with an Immediate Scheduled Task. The main advantage over logon scripts is that you can execute your script with admin rights.
Read More.Add and Remove Users to Ad Groups With Group Policyhttps://letsautomate.it/article/add-and-remove-users-to-ad-groups-with-group-policy/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:55 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/add-and-remove-users-to-ad-groups-with-group-policy/Group Policy allows you to add and remove users to an Active Directory (AD) group. Using this feature improves security because you can ensure that high-risk security groups only contain the users that you specify via Group Policy.
Read MoreDownload Files From Github Without Git Using Powershellhttps://letsautomate.it/article/download-files-from-github-without-git-using-powershell/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:52 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/download-files-from-github-without-git-using-powershell/Have you ever needed to download code or a repository from Github, but didn&rsquo;t want to download and install Git on a machine, create an SSH key, etc. If so, I have something that you may like.
You can find the entire function here: https://github.com/MSAdministrator/GetGithubRepository
To use this function, you will need to know the path to the Github repository (of course) you want to download. Once you have that URL, you will need to pass each piece of the URL into a parameter on the function.Logging to the Windows Event Log in Your Powershell Scriptshttps://letsautomate.it/article/logging-to-the-windows-event-log-in-your-powershell-scripts/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:49 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/logging-to-the-windows-event-log-in-your-powershell-scripts/As I discussed in my previous post, you can log information to a file, but sometimes you may want to log to the Windows Event Log. To log to the Windows Event Log, you will need to use the following cmdlets: New-EventLog Write-EventLog Read MoreStandardize Powershell Logging With My Write Logentry Functionhttps://letsautomate.it/article/standardize-powershell-logging-with-my-write-logentry-function/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:46 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/standardize-powershell-logging-with-my-write-logentry-function/The PowerShell function Write-LogEntry described in this post allows you to integrate logging in your scripts in a standardized way. This will help you and your script users to troubleshoot and understand the output. Read MoreDesign Before Coding Kanbanhttps://letsautomate.it/article/design-before-coding-kanban/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:44 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/design-before-coding-kanban/The first post in this three-part series focused on gathering requirements before spending time coding. While it is not necessary, I recommend that everyone read part 1 (Gathering Requirements). Understanding and having clear “User Stories” outlining the intended purpose of a tool is crucial, especially as we move towards building our new tool.
Once our “User Stories” have been defined and agreed upon by all stakeholders, we then need to begin breaking them down into tasks.Design Before Coding Gathering Requirementshttps://letsautomate.it/article/design-before-coding-gathering-requirements/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:41 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/design-before-coding-gathering-requirements/If you have worked in IT for any duration, I’m sure you have overheard or been asked to build a tool to complete X or Y. Creating tools with PowerShell is fun, but it can become daunting when you create a tool that does not meet its intended purpose. Without understanding the full requirements, you may waste time and energy on developing a tool that no one will use.
Creating tools with PowerShell to automate a manual process or to help an internal stakeholder accomplish a desired result, typically does not need to turn into a large initiative with a Project Manager or Project Management Office (PMO).How I Workhttps://letsautomate.it/article/how-i-work/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:39 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/how-i-work/I recently saw this project shared by Adam Bertram, and decided that some of you may be interested in how I work on a day to day.
https://github.com/adbertram/HowIWorkIT/blob/master/README.md
If you&rsquo;re not interested, well then why the hell are you here? You can see others that have participated here: https://github.com/adbertram/HowIWorkIT/blob/master/ThisIsHowIWork.md
&nbsp; Where are you located? First of all, my name is Josh Rickard and I&rsquo;m located in Columbia, Missouri. It sounds lame, but really it&rsquo;s a great little town.Powershell Qualys Get Asset Group Info Part 2https://letsautomate.it/article/powershell-qualys-get-asset-group-info-part-2/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:33 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/powershell-qualys-get-asset-group-info-part-2/Today I decided to write another post regarding PowerShell and Qualys Vulnerability Management API. This post will focus on gathering information about your enrolled Asset Groups. You can find the complete script on GitHub: https://github.com/MSAdministrator/POSH-Guard/blob/master/Get-QualysAssetGroupInformation
We start of by opening up PowerShell ISE and using our handy &ldquo;Snippet&rdquo; shortcut:
We select the &ldquo;Cmdlet (Advanced function) - complete&rdquo; option in the &ldquo;Snippet&rdquo; context menu. Once we have our advanced function template, we then proceed by entering a name for our Qualys Asset Group function.Powershell Qualys Authentication Part 1https://letsautomate.it/article/powershell-qualys-authentication-part-1/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:31 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/powershell-qualys-authentication-part-1/I always mean to post more on my blog, but as life gets in the way and work keeps me busy, I always seem to push it to the back-burner. This time, I am hoping to make it stick as a regular routine.
To kick off my new-found motivation to blog more, I am starting a series of posts surrounding PowerShell and Qualys Vulnerability Management API.
To start this off, first I&rsquo;m going to share some my basic steps with regards to authentication to Qualys VM API v1.Presentation Securing Windows With Group Policyhttps://letsautomate.it/article/presentation-securing-windows-with-group-policy/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:26 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/presentation-securing-windows-with-group-policy/Recently I gave a presentation at MORENet&rsquo;s 2015 Annual Conference about &ldquo;Securing Windows with Group Policy&rdquo;. This presentation was part of their &ldquo;Advanced&rdquo; technology track, and really focused on looking at the current permission levels of your users and deciding if they really need those rights/permissions.
I hope some people find these slides useful or at least a good reference point. If you have any questions about these slides then please do not hesitate to contact me by leaving a comment below.Qualysguard Decentralized It How to Organize Your Assetshttps://letsautomate.it/article/qualysguard-decentralized-it-how-to-organize-your-assets/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:23 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/qualysguard-decentralized-it-how-to-organize-your-assets/I work for a University with a decentralized IT department: each college, division, department, etc maintains their users. As a security department who maintains QualysGuard, we were wanting each department to scan their own assets and re-mediate all vulnerabilities found in these scans based on the following policy: Level 4 and Level 5 vulnerabilities must be re-mediated within 15 days Level 3 vulnerabilities must be re-mediated within 30 days Level 2 vulnerabilities must be re-mediated within the next semesters Level 1 vulnerabilities must be re-mediated whenever possible WIth this policy in mind, we began rolling out our QualysGuard service using the following methods.Windows Security Publicprivate Key Exchange Basicshttps://letsautomate.it/article/windows-security-publicprivate-key-exchange-basics/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:20 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/windows-security-publicprivate-key-exchange-basics/My wife and I saw CITIZENFOUR yesterday during a secret screening. If you have not had the chance to see this movie, please do so as soon as you can - it&rsquo;s a great documentary! The only complaint I have about the film is that they do not explain Cryptography or Encryption for the &ldquo;normal&rdquo; folks. When the film ended, I looked around and their were many non-technical people (including older individuals).Windows Security Server Hardening Security Templateshttps://letsautomate.it/article/windows-security-server-hardening-security-templates/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:16 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/windows-security-server-hardening-security-templates/Hardening your systems (Servers, Workstations, Applications, etc.) ensures that every system is secured in accordance to your organizations standards. Microsoft has a &ldquo;Solution Accelerator&rdquo; called Security Compliance Manager that allows System Administrators or IT Pro&rsquo;s to create security templates that help harden their systems in a manageable, repeatable, way. In addition to SCM, you can build your own by using the standard MMC console and adding the Security Templates Snap-In to the console - this gives you a more refined configuration, but can be cumbersome.Windows Security Patch Managementhttps://letsautomate.it/article/windows-security-patch-management/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:13 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/windows-security-patch-management/Recently, at work, I nominated myself to begin a &ldquo;Windows Security&rdquo; course for IT Professionals that I work with. Being a former IT Pro, and now part of our security department as an Incident Responder, I thought I would create a course surrounding security. So, i&rsquo;m going to use my blog to layout my plans for this &ldquo;Windows Security&rdquo; course - which will hopefully be useful for others as well.Qualys Guard Qualys in a University Environmenthttps://letsautomate.it/article/qualys-guard-qualys-in-a-university-environment/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:11 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/qualys-guard-qualys-in-a-university-environment/The University I work for has began using Qualys for our Enterprise Vulnerability Scanning and so far it&rsquo;s been well received. The problem is that every &ldquo;College/School&rdquo; maintains their own systems thus we are decentralized, which makes maintaining Reports/Scans/Maps/etc. very difficult.
Because I have not found many posts/articles focused on a decentralized environment I decided I would explain the way we are approaching this. This is all a work in progress - if you have any questions or ideas, please get a hold of me.Mdt 2013 Installing Mdt 2013https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2013-installing-mdt-2013/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:09 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2013-installing-mdt-2013/Now we are going to install MDT 2013. This is a simple process but I wanted to show you anyways.
After you have downloaded MDT 2013 from Microsoft (See This Post)
When you first Launch the MDT 2013 Installer, you should see the following screen:
Click Next to Continue
Accept the License Agreement and click Next:
Choose the Location that you want MDT 2013 to be installed. This is typically left alone but you are more than welcome to install it on a separate partition/drive.Mdt 2013 Installing Adk for 8 1https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2013-installing-adk-for-8-1/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:06 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2013-installing-adk-for-8-1/Once you have all of the necessary files downloaded and saved on your Windows Server 2012 R2 box, then begin by installing the &ldquo;adksetup.exe&rdquo;.
The first screen that should pop-up is this one:
The Following Screenshots are all based on your own needs but these are the options that I have chosen for this setup:
I choose to download the ADK instead of installing it. The reason I do this is because I like to keep a backup of the original file, just in case the server crashes or something else happens.Mdt 2013 Setting Up Mdt 2013 With Adk for Windows 7 8 8 1https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2013-setting-up-mdt-2013-with-adk-for-windows-7-8-8-1/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:03 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2013-setting-up-mdt-2013-with-adk-for-windows-7-8-8-1/Hello Everyone, in the following few weeks I will creating several new posts about setting MDT 2013 on Windows Server 2012 R2 to enable you to image your Dell OptiPlex &amp; Lattitude machines. This will be similar to my MDT 2012 Update 1 Guide but a bit different as well. I hope you enjoy!
To Start things off, you need to download the following pieces of software:
MDT 2013 ADK for Windows 8.Mdt 2013 Pin Start Menu Task Bar Shortcuts Through Task Sequencehttps://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2013-pin-start-menu-task-bar-shortcuts-through-task-sequence/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:00 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2013-pin-start-menu-task-bar-shortcuts-through-task-sequence/Below is how we stopped modifying the Start Menu &amp; Task Bar shortcuts on our Default Image (GOLD IMAGE) using MDT 2013 Task Sequence. This applies to Windows 7 and I&rsquo;m sure it could be modified to work with Windows 8.1. Check it out below and let me know if you have any questions.
To do this, you are going to need the following scripts in a folder on your MDT 2013 Server.Script Adding Exchange Resource Accounts to Your Outlookhttps://letsautomate.it/article/script-adding-exchange-resource-accounts-to-your-outlook/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:57 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/script-adding-exchange-resource-accounts-to-your-outlook/I work for a large public University and we have many Resource Accounts. We needed a way to move from Public Folders but we wanted it to be seemless as possible. To do this, I created this VBS script that allows anyone to add Resource Accounts to their Outlook 2013&frasl;2010 calendar as a shared calendar. The user in question will have to run this script while Outlook is open and it will pull the Resource Account (add the Resource Account name in the RESOURCEACCOUNTNAME variable below) from the GAL and add it to the users calendar.Script Removing Proxy From Firefox User Prefs Jshttps://letsautomate.it/article/script-removing-proxy-from-firefox-user-prefs-js/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:54 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/script-removing-proxy-from-firefox-user-prefs-js/So, I was tasked with removing proxy settings from Firefox because of Webroot Desktop Proxy. Removing them from the %Programfiles% directory was easy, the hard part was the user prefs.js. Anyways, here&rsquo;s a little script I created to remove Proxy settings and set them to No Proxy.
cd /D &ldquo;%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\&rdquo; cd *.default set ffile=%cd% type &ldquo;%ffile%\prefs.js&rdquo; | findstr /v &ldquo;userpref(&ldquo;network.proxy.type&rdquo;, 2);&rdquo;&gt;&rdquo;%ffile%\prefs.js&rdquo; type &ldquo;%ffile%\prefs.js&rdquo; | findstr /v &ldquo;userpref(&ldquo;network.proxy.type&rdquo;, 0);&rdquo;&gt;&rdquo;%ffile%\prefs.js&rdquo; ren &ldquo;prefs.js&rdquo; &ldquo;prefs.Powershell Updating Local Admin Passwords Securely 3 of 3https://letsautomate.it/article/powershell-updating-local-admin-passwords-securely-3-of-3/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:52 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/powershell-updating-local-admin-passwords-securely-3-of-3/Below is an example of how to remotely (using PowerShell) update and change the Local Administrator password securely. This is not my script, I received this script along with many others from the SANS SEC 505 course. I have not altered it in any way.
Updating the Passwords of the Local Administrator on remote mahcines (You must have a Certificate either from your CA or another Certificate Authority):Powershell Updating Local Admin Passwords Securely 2 of 3https://letsautomate.it/article/powershell-updating-local-admin-passwords-securely-2-of-3/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:49 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/powershell-updating-local-admin-passwords-securely-2-of-3/Below is an example of how to remotely (using PowerShell) update and change the Local Administrator password securely. This is not my script, I received this script along with many others from the SANS SEC 505 course. I have not altered it in any way.
Updating the Passwords of the Local Administrator on remote mahcines (You must have a Certificate either from your CA or another Certificate Authority):Powershell Updating Local Admin Passwords Securely 1 of 3https://letsautomate.it/article/powershell-updating-local-admin-passwords-securely-1-of-3/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:47 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/powershell-updating-local-admin-passwords-securely-1-of-3/So I haven&rsquo;t posted in a bit but I&rsquo;ve seen this request many times. Below is an example of how to remotely (using PowerShell) update and change the Local Administrator password securely. This is not my script, I received this script along with many others from the SANS SEC 505 course. I have not altered it in any way.
Updating the Passwords of the Local Administrator on remote mahcines (You must have a Certificate either from your CA or another Certificate Authority):Ipad Lockdown Mobileconfighttps://letsautomate.it/article/ipad-lockdown-mobileconfig/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:44 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/ipad-lockdown-mobileconfig/It is possible to put an iPad or iPhone into &lsquo;Store Demo&rsquo; mode so that the home button and swipe to home gesture is disabled. If you have seen the iPads in the Apple Store running the smart sign apps then you will know what I mean.
It is actually pretty trivial to make this work, all you need to do is install a correctly formatted mobile config plist over the air from a web server.Questions About Mdt 2012 Driver Setuphttps://letsautomate.it/article/questions-about-mdt-2012-driver-setup/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:41 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/questions-about-mdt-2012-driver-setup/So I&rsquo;ve had a lot of questions about my MDT 2012 Driver setup and hopefully this post will explain a little bit about it. Let me know if you have any questions
Personally I have a folder on my server called _Source_Drivers. I keep all my drivers here and import them into MDT but keep the original. Here is what my file structure of this folder looks like.
Once I have my structure setup I then begin to setup the structure on my MDT Deployment Share.Mdt 2012 Installing a Custom Dictionary in Office 2010https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-installing-a-custom-dictionary-in-office-2010/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:39 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-installing-a-custom-dictionary-in-office-2010/So, some might not need this but thought I would share anyways. I have created my new MDT 2012 Deployment Share and want to add Microsoft Office 2010 as an application, but I also need to customize that deployment of Office 2010 when I&rsquo;m deploying my new OS. Here are the steps on how to do this, but also how to create a custom Office 2010 Install. Once you&rsquo;ve setup everything for you OS, go to the Applications folder on your Deployment Share and right click&gt;New Application Once there, put in the relavent information including where your resource CD is located.Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 11 of 11https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-11-of-11/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:36 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-11-of-11/Preparing WDS to enable PXE Boot (optional but very useful) Minimize the Deployment Workbench application Open “Windows Deployment Services” from Start/Admin Tools Expand Servers / CONFIG-DEPLOY.config.local and right-click on Boot Images and select Add Boot Image. If the boot image already exists, right click on it and select Replace Boot Image to replace it with a newer version
Browse to the Deployment Share location (e.g. E:\DeploymentShares\Customername) and open the Boot folder Select the LiteTouchPE_x86.Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 10 of 11https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-10-of-11/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:34 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-10-of-11/Automating the Deployment Process Right-click on the deployment share and select Properties
Select the “Rules” tab In the main window, edit the settings as required. A sample CUSTOMSETTINGS.INI is below but feel free to change it as needed… CUSTOMSETTINGS.INI [Settings]
Priority=Default
[Default ]
_SMSTSORGNAME=Customer
SkipBDDWelcome=YES
SkipProductKey=YES
ProductKey= XXXX-XXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
OverrideProductKey=XXXX-XXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
SkipDeploymentType=YES
DeploymentType=NEWCOMPUTER
SkipDomainMembership=NOMdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 9 of 11https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-9-of-11/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:32 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-9-of-11/Creating a Deployment Task Sequence From the Deployment Workbench, expand the customer Deployment Share and right-click on Task Sequences and select New Task Sequence Enter a Task Sequence ID and Name. Make a note of the ID as you may need it later!
Accept the default “Standard Client Task Sequence” template Select the relevant OS Image to deploy
This option will vary dependent on whether you are going to be using KMS or MAK licenses for their Windows 7 deployment.Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 8 of 11https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-8-of-11/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:29 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-8-of-11/Importing a Customer Reference Image From the Deployment Workbench, expand the customer Deployment Share and right-click on Operating Systems and select Import Operating System From the Import Operating System Wizard, select Custom Image File and click Next Browse to the path of the WIM file. For captured images, this would by default be the \Captures folder in the Deployment Share Select “Copy Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, or later setup files from specified path” and enter the path to the relevant OS installation media.Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 7 of 11https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-7-of-11/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:27 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-7-of-11/Capturing a Windows 7 Image from a reference PC The reference computer should be connected to the same network as the MDT Deployment server and should be set to get an IP address via DHCP.
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THE REFERENCE COMPUTER MUST NOT BE JOINED TO ANY DOMAIN!
&nbsp; Boot the reference computer and ensure network connectivity Make any last-minute modifications (additional software, Windows Updates, etc.) Click Start and type \&lt;MDTSERVER&gt;\share$\scripts\litetouch.Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 6 of 11https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-6-of-11/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:24 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-6-of-11/Completing the Deployment Share Configuration Now you have imported an OS (from source media) and some WinPE drivers, we can go ahead and complete the configuration of the Deployment Share. 6.1 Advanced Configuration The Advanced Configuration section of MDT consists of four separate areas although, we only use the Selection Profiles section for now. The rest are advanced topics which you can explore later! Advanced Configuration – Selection Profiles Created a single additional selection profile – “WinPE Drivers” and configured it to contain only the drivers which Windows PE will use.Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 5 of 11https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-5-of-11/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:22 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-5-of-11/Creating a Sysprep &amp; Capture Task Sequence The “Task Sequence” is the heart of the MDT deployment solution. It is a list of steps which need to be taken to successfully deploy an Operating System.
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Initially you need to create a “Sysprep and Capture” task sequence. Go ahead and do this now. You don’t need to worry too much about which choice of OS you make as it doesn’t matter.Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 4 of 11https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-4-of-11/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:20 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-4-of-11/4. Importing an OS Image The Operating Systems section of MDT lists all of the Operating Systems which are available to deploy from a Deployment Share. The deployment itself is controlled by a Task Sequence but the operating system source files need to be available.
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Simply right-click on Operating Systems on the left and Import your Windows 7 source media from either DVD or a network share. If you are planning to deploy both 32 and 64 bit versions, import both!Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 3 of 11https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-3-of-11/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:17 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-3-of-11/Device Driver Management 3.1 Obtaining Device Drivers for a Deployment In order to deploy a single image to multiple hardware types, MDT performs a “driver injection” during the OS load process. For this to work, any and all relevant drivers need to be imported into the deployment share in advance. Depending on the hardware vendor, the process for obtaining these drivers may vary but will generally involve going to the vendor website and downloading the drivers for specific hardware models.Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 2 of 11https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-2-of-11/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:01 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-2-of-11/2.1 Creating an MDT Deployment Share An MDT Deployment Share is the specific deployment environment which will be used for OS deployment. The share contains all elements of the deployment including drivers, applications, OS images etc. Log on to the MDT server and open the “Deployment Workbench” Right-click on “Deployment Shares” in the left pane of the workbench and select New Deployment Share
In the New Deployment Share Wizard, choose a location for the new share.Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 1 of 11https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-1-of-11/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:42:57 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-1-of-11/1.0 Deployment Infrastructure Overview The new OS Deployment Infrastructure for the Configuration Centre is based around Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 with Update 1. MDT relies on a number of underlying software components and is able to deploy a number of different Operating Systems including Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 on the client side and Windows Server 2003, 2008 and 2008 R2 on the server side. This document is focused on deployment of Windows 7 clients.Windows Comparison of Windows Commands and Linux Commandshttps://letsautomate.it/article/windows-comparison-of-windows-commands-and-linux-commands/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:42:53 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/windows-comparison-of-windows-commands-and-linux-commands/So I went to this conference awhile back and sat through a presentation. Not really interesting, but since I am new to the whole Linux world I thought I would pass this along. Here is a PowerPoint presentation explaining the difference&rsquo;s between Windows and Linux commands, at least common ones. Enjoy!
Linux-Windows - Comparison of CommandsScripting Open Excel Sheets in Separate Windowshttps://letsautomate.it/article/scripting-open-excel-sheets-in-separate-windows/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:42:51 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/scripting-open-excel-sheets-in-separate-windows/If you work in an environment similar to my previous position, then you would know how often you hear certain complaints after upgrading people to new applications or Operating Systems. Well one of those complaints came from individuals that we upgraded to Office 2010. They were use to the option of opening up Excel Spreadsheets in separate windows, but in Office 2010 you can&rsquo;t do this by default you have to make a few tweaks.Scripting Clean Java Temporary Install Files From User Profiles Win 7 Xphttps://letsautomate.it/article/scripting-clean-java-temporary-install-files-from-user-profiles-win-7-xp/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:42:48 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/scripting-clean-java-temporary-install-files-from-user-profiles-win-7-xp/So I had an issue awhile back that need to be rectified and the fix was to clean out temporary install files from the Sun/Java folder in User profiles. This had to be done on about 700 machines, so I created this little script that cleans out these files and pushed it out to via AD. I hope you enjoy&hellip;..
Win 7 - Clean Java Temp Files CD C:\ CLS ECHO REM *** This DELETES temporary install files from the REM *** SUN/JAVA folder in User Profiles.Scripting Mount Printer at Startup Scripthttps://letsautomate.it/article/scripting-mount-printer-at-startup-script/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:42:35 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/scripting-mount-printer-at-startup-script/So I had to come up with a batch script that would allow the user (in a lab) to select the printer that they wanted to use during that login session. Pretty much this was placed in the startup folder on a few lab machines and every time someone would login (Deep Freeze Machines) it would ask them to select the printer that they wanted to print to. It worked pretty well, I hope someone makes use of it.Programming Final Project for X86 Assembly Language Class Zombie Gamehttps://letsautomate.it/article/programming-final-project-for-x86-assembly-language-class-zombie-game/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:42:31 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/programming-final-project-for-x86-assembly-language-class-zombie-game/So a few years ago I had to create a Zombie game for one of my Assembly Language classes and it was fun as heck. Sorry for the bad formatting and probably bad code in general, but I wanted to post it because it was fun to create!
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Final Project - Assembly LanguageProgramming Understanding Binary and Its Hexadecimal Valueshttps://letsautomate.it/article/programming-understanding-binary-and-its-hexadecimal-values/
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:42:13 -0400https://letsautomate.it/article/programming-understanding-binary-and-its-hexadecimal-values/So one crucial concept that every programmer that enjoys or endures Assembly Language programming is the concept of Binary arthimetic and their corresponding Hexadecimal values. Here is a great example that you can use to make sure that you understand their values and thus it will help you understand IP addressing as well.